Mexican monstrance

Mexican monstrance

This monstrance was gifted to the cathedral by Francisco Antonio González de Echávarri (1700-1774), an important jurist of the Royal Court of Mexico. It arrived in Vitoria in 1763 and was considered by the Cathedral Chapter as “the most precious jewel known in these provinces”. It is a portable monstrance in the style of a sun, carved in gilded silver with a cruciform foot, stipe shaft and ostensory with bursts and rays. It is enhanced by a hundred diamonds surrounding the lunette and several mother-of-pearl plates embedded in the shaft. Although it bears no marks of authorship or provenance, it is undoubtedly a Mexican piece made around 1760. A few years after its arrival in Vitoria, in 1766, three mother-of-pearl plates came loose and had to be repaired by Antonio de Sotil, a silversmith from Vitoria.